Suspended car caught up in city code issue

By Dug Begley |
January 8, 2013
| Updated: January 8, 2013 9:08pm

This 350-pound fiberglass car hanging on the side of a Kirby Drive building may make an artistic statement, but the city of Houston wants it taken down immediately.

Photo By Cody Duty/Staff

The city has done a bit of "decorating" of its own on the front door of Internum, a design store on Kirby.

The moral of this story: Get a permit before you attach what looks like a compact car to the side of a building.

A fiberglass shell of a Mini Cooper hangs in the balance in a tussle between Houston public works officials and the owners of a building on Kirby where the ersatz car is affixed above a public sidewalk.

City officials have ordered the sidewalk cordoned off and twice cited the "car" - not for parking violations, but for code issues.

"You can't just put up a sign without a permit," said public works spokesman Alvin Wright.

Workers at Internum, a furniture store that occupies the building at 3303 Kirby, referred questions to a spokesman, Patrick Chiu, who did not return phone messages Tuesday.

Regardless of its appearance, Wright said the city considers the car just like any other large display or sign. Installation requires city approval when such objects hang over a public sidewalk or can adversely affect traffic around the building, he explained.

"If this was an ordinary sign, it follows the same process," Wright said.

Of course, a fake Mini Cooper isn't a neon sign. Supporters and gawkers lined up Tuesday to get a look at the car, which has been mounted on the front of the building since mid-December.

"I don't see what the problem is; it's not going to fall," said David Webber, 25, who drives a Mini and swung by on his way to lunch Tuesday.

Others cheered the whimsy of this bit of urban design.

"I like it; I think it is fun," said Catherine Couturier, a nearby gallery owner who said Houston needs more pieces of interesting art in public spaces.

The shell, including working headlights, is estimated in some reports to weigh about 350 pounds. Provided it is affixed to the building properly, it is very stable, said Eric Davis, office manager for TYart, a local art transportation and installation company.

"We've done many things heavier than that," Davis said. "The weight, 350 pounds, is fairly light in terms of hanging."

Correctly anchoring the piece would require either permanently connecting it to weight-bearing elements of the building or displacing the weight across more of the wall, Davis said.

"You can't just set a 350-pound sculpture up there with a couple nails, so to speak," he said.

That's why the city requires permitting and some analysis of the sign. If the proper precautions are taken, Wright said, keeping the sign in place is just a matter of submitting paperwork. He said officials are reviewing the issue, but fines are possible.

Thus the car's future remains up in the air.

"The main thing is we try to get businesses to understand the process," Wright said.